Leveraging Context for File Search and Organization.

Context;Computer Science;Engineering;Computer Science & Engineering

Shah, SamirPrakash, Atul ;

University of Michigan

关键词: Context;    Computer Science;    Engineering;    Computer Science & Engineering;   

Others  :  https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/63735/shahsam_1.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

瑞士|英语

来源: The Illinois Digital Environment for Access to Learning and Scholarship

【 摘 要 】

Ideally, a user;;s system wouldautomatically organize, locate, andmanage their data. Unfortunately, thisideal is currently elusive, as evidencedby the considerable effort users expendin organizing and finding their data,and the plethora of tools availablehelping them to do so.Context---the set of facts and featuressurrounding data---is a promising aspectto aid in this information managementproblem. For instance, a user;;s systemcan observe his or her actions todetermine which data is pertinent toother data, reordering and extendingresults during searches. Thisdissertation describes and evaluatessuch a scheme, which usescausally-related inputs to outputs todrive its contextual index. A fieldstudy with a prototype of thisarchitecture indicates that the systemincreases user-perceived satisfaction insearch.Unfortunately, while this context provesuseful, it is only maintained locally. Auser;;s social neighborhood, however, canprovide significant advantages for thecollaborative sharing of context.Challenges arise, as naively addingcontext sharing to a system complicatesit from the user;;s point of view: itbecomes a new entity to manage. As well,any such mechanism must also respectpersonal boundaries on disclosure.This work advocates leveraging acts ofsharing to imbue context access rights.With this system, context isencapsulated in frames of reference, andthese frames follow objects as they areshared. Frames render a separation ofconcerns: a recipient holding oneparticular frame cannot see the contextresiding in a frame not disclosed.Frames can be split and merged ascontexts and circumstances change. Tosupport the ad-hoc, spontaneouscollaborations that occur naturallybetween individuals, the system eschewsvestiges of centralized control and itseventual-consistency model aids mobileand disconnected users. A user studysuggests this framing scheme ispalatable to users and a prototypedemonstrates contextual exchange inducesnegligible performance overheads.This research aims to help amelioratethe information management problem andto facilitate the formation of ad-hoc,spontaneous collaborative groups.